By KATHY HAGEMAN
Dickinson County Public Information coordinator
ABILENE - Sometime in the next couple of weeks, the building which has served as the Dickinson County Attorney’s office for more than a quarter century will be demolished.
Located southeast of the courthouse at 201 E. First Street, the building was home to the county attorney’s office from the 1990s until March 2022 when the department was relocated to the top floor of the courthouse.
Although the building looks solid from the outside it long has been plagued with problems that are no longer worth repairing, according to Dickinson County Administrator Brad Homman.
Also, it is too small for the number of employees who work in the building and it’s not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible.
Most important, the building is not safe in terms of security – so necessary in this day and age.
Plus, the space is needed to accommodate courthouse parking.
Problem design
Despite looking fine from the outside, the building has had more than its share of problems, including a roof that leaks – despite being repaired numerous times, heating and cooling issues and even dilemmas caused by the unique design of the building.
Inside, the steps going down to the basement are built at an angle, making the descent visually disorienting and the top of the stairwell is low so taller people have to duck to avoid hitting their heads.
“It’s architecturally unique to the extreme, especially from the outside,” Homman said. “Every time it rains, water runs down the inside of the wall on the south end. We’ve had it fixed numerous times by several different roofing people but it continues to happen.”
Besides the leaky roof, maintaining climate control in the building has been a challenge with the heating and cooling unit needing replaced several times in recent years.
Sometime over the years, doors were installed at the bottom of the basement stairs which made it impossible to remove a conference table and other large items. They will be removed once the top of the building is razed, Homman said.
Too small
Besides the infrastructure problems, the building was too small for the county attorney office staff.
Despite looking large from the outside, the office was built more than 50 years ago to accommodate four or five people and included a kitchen area, conference room, and reception area.
“We had about eight or nine people in there. They had outgrown the building,” Homman said. “People were stacked in there like sardines.”
Over the years, the reception and kitchen areas were converted into employee work areas and the conference room became an office when a second assistant county attorney was hired. Due to increases in criminal, juvenile, civil and traffic case load, more attorneys and staff were needed.
As for the county attorney building, demolishing it eliminates the cost to maintain it while moving staff into the courthouse “where they should have been all along,” Homman said.
“In the courthouse they are in an area with high efficiency climate control, LED lighting and all the new amenities. The people they work with are just down the hall so they don’t have to walk back and forth all day and most importantly it brings them into an environment protected by security,” Homman said.
“They do work in a world that comes with hazards,” he said. “Now they will be in a protected environment.”
Built in 1970, the building at 201 E. First was constructed to house the Federal Land Bank Association and was used for other offices before Dickinson County acquired it.
Before moving to the building behind the courthouse in the 1990s, the county attorney’s office was located in the north end of the building at 712 S. Buckeye. The south side of that building now is home to the Chisholm Trail Extension District.